Clevis and pin



(No Model.)

W. I. WOOSTER. OLEVIS AND PIN:

No. 437,388. Patented Sept. 30, 1890. i

, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM I. WOOSTER, HARVARD, ILLINOIS.

CLEVIS AND'PIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,388, dated September 30, 1890.

Application filed December ,16, 1889. $erial No. 333,982. (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern.-

7 Be it known that I, WILLIAM I. Woosrnn, of Harvard, in the county of McHenry and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clevises and Pins; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to clevises and pins of that class in which the pin is turned to its locked position after being inserted in the clevis, and in which the arms of the clevis are in a degree elastic and require to be sprung (either toward or from each other) in giving the pin its locked position or in removing it.

from such locked position.

Heretofore clevises and pins have been constructed to interlock to prevent the withdrawal of the pin, the clevis being compressed out of its normal shape by hand or other extraneous force in order to allow the pin to be turned to make locking engagement with the clevis.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a construction in interlocking clevises and pins whereby the pin itself in being turned within the clevis operates by a cam action to efiect the springing of the clevis instead of relying upon hand or other force for this purpose.

In the accompanying drawings,which illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a clevis and pin having a preferred form of construction. Fig. 2 is a side eleva-. tion of the pin of Fig. 1,provided with an annular cam-groove and with a longitudinal groove extending from the end of the pin to this cam-groove. Fig. 3 is a perspective of the lower end of the clevis of Fig. 1, showing a lug projecting from the wall of the hole therein and into the path of the pin and adapted to co-operate with the form of pin shown in Fig. 2. Fig.4 is an elevation of the pin shown in Fig.2, but presenting the opposite side thereof to :view and illustrating the form of the rear. portion of, the cam-groove. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 illustrate a modification, Fig. 5 being a side elevation of the clevis with the apertured extremity of the lower end thereof shown in section; Fig. 6, a top view of the upper end of the clevis, and Fig. 7 a side elevation of the pin, which .in this case has a plain annular groove about its lower end without cam-surfaces, but has a cam surface or surfaces on the under side of its head. Figs. 8, 9, and 10 illustrate'another modification, in which the projections and cam-surfaces are transposed,the lug being on the pin and the groove which permits the pin to be inserted in the clevis being in one of the clevis-arms.

First describing the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, A represents a clevis, which will usually be of malleable iron, a'a being the arms of the clevis, each provided with a hole to receive the pin B. From the wall of the hole in the lower arm a projects a lug a in the path of the pin. The pin B has a head I), intended to rest upon the upper surface of the clevis-arm a, and near its lower end has a circumferential groove 1) of sufficient depth to admit the lug a on the clevis, arm a. To allow the pin to be inserted far enough for the lug a to enter the groove 1), a longitudinal groove b is'provided therein, extending from the circumferential groove b to the extremity of the pin. The lower or outer circumferential wall b of the groove 6.

is made cam-shaped, as shown in Figs. 2 and i-that is to say, said wall adjacent to the groove b and also on the side of the pin opposite to said groove, is wider or approaches nearer to the end of the pin than at the intermediate point if, as shown at 19 these indirect surfaces being so arranged that the pin may be turned to bring the lug a into the groove without springing the clevis, but also so as to require springing of the clevis in order to allow the lug a to pass either of the points b of said cam-surface. The depression b in said cam-surface allows the arms of the clevis to spring outward to or toward their normal position when the lug (1 reaches that point in the turning of the pin, and by engagement of said lug with the said depression 12 the pin is locked. By this construction of the groove 1) in the pin the springing of the clevis-arms is accomplished Wholly by the pin itself as the latter is turned in the clevis, and it is therefore unnecessary to apply hand force or other power to spring the clevis-arms in order to allow the lug a to engage the groove and permit the pin to be turned. The advantage of this construction and mode of operation, as compared with the older construction referred to,is obvious andimportant, since it is comparatively easy to spring the clevisarms through the medium of the cam-surfaces on the pin, while it is very difficult to do so by hand.

Next describing the modified construction shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, it will be seen that the groove b about the pin has its opposite walls in parallel planes, or, in other words, that said groove is Without the feature of the cam shown in Figs. 2 and 4:. It will also be seen that on the top of the upper clevis-arm a there are twoopposite ribs a while on the under surface of the head I) of the pin, Fig. 7, are correspondingly-located grooves b. The depressions b are wider slightly than the ribs a so that when thepin B is inserted in the clevis the former may be turned sufficiently in the latter to allow the lug a in the clevisarm to engage or enter the groove b in the pin before the slope of the depression I) begins to ride the rib a By reason of this primary en gagement of the lug a with the groove b the further turning of the pin will not lift the latter from the clevis, but will compress the arms of the clevis until the pin has been half turned to bring the grooves 19 again over the ribs 00. At this point the clevis-arms expand by their resiliency, and the ribs being engaged with the grooves and the pin-head will hold the pin from rotation and escape. This latter or modified construction obviously has the same advantage as that first described, in that the springing of the clevis is effected by a cam action obtained by the form and arrangement of the surfaces of the two parts which bear upon each other in the rotation of the pin, and that the necessity of springing the arms of the clevis by hand or other extraneous force in rotating the pin to or from its locked position is obviated. It is also manifest that the various depressions, projections, and camsurfaces may be transposed from one part to the other without departure from my invention as, for example, illustrated in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, wherein the lug a is on the pin B and the groove corresponding in function with the groove 1) in the previous illustrations is in the lower arm of the clevis, the cam-surface with which the lug a engages to spring the clevis-arms in rotating the pin being located on the under surface of the said clevis-arm a.

Still other modifications may be made without departure from my invention.

Lclaim as my invention- 1. The combination of a clevis and pin, upon one of which is a projection and in the other of which is a groove through which the projection passes in placing the pin in the clevis, said clevis and pin being provided with cam-acting surfaces which mutually engage by rotation of the pin, and are arranged to cause the clevis-arms to spring, by the rotation of the pin to its locked position.

2. The combination of a clevis provided with a lug in the path of the pin, and a pin provided with a circumferential groove for engagementwith the lug, and also provided with a longitudinal groove to admit the lug to the circumferential groove, and cam-surfaces on the parts, whereby in turning the pin the clevis-arms are sprung out of their normal position, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the clevis A, provided with a lug a of a pin B, provided with a groove 1), having its lowermost wall camshaped, substantially as described, and also provided with a groove or notch b whereby the lug 0. is admitted to the groove 0..

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM I. \VOOSTER.

WVitnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, O. CLARENCE POOLE. 

